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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Recycled Dinosaur Crayons

I feel like I haven't posted a tutorial in a really long time. It's not that I haven't made anything...I have projects photographed, edited, and ready to go...I just don't have time to write the directions! So this one is going to be super simple...

We're getting ready for Abe's third birthday, which {spoiler alert} will involve an egg hunt and dinosaurs. I needed something to hide in the eggs but didn't want to use candy - since we may or may not make another pinata. While scouring my birthday party pinboard I came up with a solution - custom crayons! We already had boxes of crayons lying around that were left here last summer after my sister's wedding. They were the regular sized crayons which Abe usually snaps in half, so we had a lot of broken ones. Some were not, but with at least three boxes of these I figured we could spare a few unbroken crayons. I ordered a silicone dinosaur candy mold from Amazon and Abe and I set to work peeling crayons.

1. Peel paper off crayons. (I found it helps to run your fingernail along the seam to loosen it, then the paper usually peels right off.)

2. Break crayons into small pieces and put pieces into silicone mold. (This mold used about 1½ crayons for each dinosaur.) Feel free to mix and match to create new colors or make swirled crayons.

3. Place silicone mold on a cookie sheet and preheat oven to 200°F. Bake crayons for 15 minutes, or until mostly melted.

4. Take melted crayons out and add more broken crayons to fill the cavities. Bake for another 10-15 minutes until pieces are completely melted. (If you want to skip this step, just bake crayons for 25 minutes the first time around.)

5. Remove from oven and lightly tap the cake pan on the counter to remove air bubbles.

6. Allow crayons to cool for at least an hour before carefully popping them out of the mold. The crayons made from this mold are small but pretty sturdy. I did break the head off of one of the brontosauruses when taking it out, but I was able to melt it back together with the next batch.

Making recycled crayons is kind of addicting once you get started. I just might turn all of our crayons into miniature dinosaurs! [Insert maniacal laughter here.]

13 comments:

I tried this once but it was an epic failure because I used these plastic candy molds. The crayon melted all over the place in the oven and stunk up the entire house. I'll make a note to myself to seek out the silicone molds next time!

Too funny! I'm sure you could use a plastic mold but instead of baking it you'd have to melt the crayons in a separate container (probably on the stove) and then pour the melted wax into the molds. It'd probably be quite time consuming if you want to do a bunch of different colors though!

Question, though: Once when I was taught how to make new candles out of old candle bits in a mold (very similar process to this), I was told to make them in an old toaster oven since it should never be used to prepare food after that. Aren't candles and crayons both wax? Does it not hurt your oven to bake crayons in them? Or was the person who told me that about the candles excessively cautious?

They may have been extra cautious, but I'm guessing it has more to do with the dyes and perfumes that are added to candle wax than the wax itself. You can eat wax - it's often found on apples, cucumbers, and even in chocolates! Most crayons are non-toxic, although I'd check the label to be sure if you're worried about it.

I have been making crayons for about 12 years or more. I have only recently started using silicone molds vs plastic molds. I don't wait a hour between batches of crayons. I set my mold in a pan of super ice cold water and ice. After about 5 minutes my crayons are set solid enough to remove and I can start another batch. When using a plastic mold. I melt my crayons in different pans or in can in an electric skillet with water in the bottom. Then pour into the mold, chill the same as the silicone molds and continue until you have lots of colorful fun.

I am off to make molded crayons! My girlfriend just brought me 16 boxes of the 64crayon set. I have a huge box. My grandchildren will love coloring with something other then the usual crayon. Thanks for the pin! 😊